Beverage dispensers traditionally combine a diluent such as water with a beverage base such as syrup and the like. These beverage bases generally have a dilution or reconstitution ratio of about three to one to about six to one. The beverage bases usually come in large bag-in-box containers that require significant amounts of storage space and may need refrigeration. These storage requirements generally result in positioning the bag-in-box containers away from the dispenser in a back room and the like with a number of pumps and long supply lines. Each bag-in-box container usually holds a beverage base for a single type or flavor of beverage such that multiple bag-in-box containers may be required to provide the consumer with a beverage dispenser having a variety of beverage options.
Recent improvements in beverage dispensing technology have focused on the use of micro-ingredients. With micro-ingredients, the traditional beverage bases may be separated into their constituent parts at much higher reconstitution ratios. These micro-ingredients may be stored in much smaller packages and stored closer to, adjacent to, or within the beverage dispenser itself. The beverage dispenser preferably may provide the consumer with multiple beverage options as well as the ability to customize a beverage as desired. This micro-ingredient technology has been incorporated in the popular “Freestyle®” refrigerated beverage dispensing units provided by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Ga. The “Freestyle®” refrigerated beverage dispensing units can dispense over 125 flavors or brands without the need for expensive storage space. These micro-ingredients then may be mixed with macro-ingredients such as conventional high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or sugar sweeteners.
One issue with the use of either conventional bag-in-box syrups or the use of sweeteners and micro-ingredients concerns the buildup of sweetener on critical surfaces. Specifically, dried sweetener may gum up the components of known dispensers. If the dried sweetener is not regularly removed from such critical surfaces, the dried sweetener may cause enough friction between the mechanical components to cause them to seize. Further, the dried sweetener may present enough interference to degrade the performance of an electronic sensor. As a result, known dispensers generally require time and labor intensive washing procedures to remove the dried sweetener. Moreover, such current washing procedures may require large amounts of water that otherwise serve no useful purpose.
There is thus a desire for an improved dispensing system and the like that can accommodate or prevent the buildup of sweetener on critical surfaces. Moreover, such a dispensing system may periodically clean such surfaces with an efficient and limited use of water.